Obama Birthday: Happy Birthday, President Obama!

Our beloved President Barack Obama turns 49 on today, and he's homebound, headed back to Chicago to celebrate.

Obama will be breaking bread with cherished friends and kicking up his feet at his own home in the city's Hyde Park section. Unfortunately, Michelle and the girls won't be helping him to blow out the candles on his cake. The First Lady and the youngest daughter, Sasha, are away on a mother/daughter trip in Spain, while oldest child Malia is away at camp. Obama is not singing the blues about his family's absence on his big day, though, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, "They'll all be back together soon."

A year's shy of the whopping 5-0, Obama's birthday is being used in this election year as a prime fund-raising opportunity for Democratic candidates and party organizations through mailings, e-mails, parties and other birthday-themed outreach.

Meanwhile, since taking office nearly two years ago, Obama has noticed that the aging process has sped up a bit. He has mentioned publicly that his hair has gotten grayer, but this just happens to come with the job. Bill Clinton still had about half a head of brown hair when he took office, but was a silver fox two years later, and George W. Bush went from salt and pepper to just salt in no time.

Obama also says that his metabolism has slowed down a tad since he was elected. There is no doubt that the presidential post is a daunting one what with a struggling economy, raging wars and a heapful of other pressures. Obama is sure to see and feel telltale signs of wear and tear every day:

''Presidents age two years for every year that they're in office,'' said Dr. Michael F. Roizen, co-founder of RealAge, a web site that tells you how much older your body really is because of all that smoking and drinking you have been doing.

With all this talk about the cruel tricks that aging plays on a person, one thing rings true, Obama, gray hairs and all, you are still our finest president! Happy birthday!

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